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Monday, November 21, 2011

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Blondies

Prepare yourself for a new Thanksgiving dessert. These will make your forget about the pumpkin pie altogether. A thick bar consisting of a soft and chewy snickerdoodle base topped with a wonderfully smooth and creamy pumpkin pie filling garnished with cinnamon sugar, one bite and you'll be sold. The cinnamon in the snickerdoodle base is the perfect bridge to the spiced pumpkin filling. Dave was sold just by reading the recipe, but once he tasted them, he declared them perfect. As did I. In fact, these pimpkin pie snickerdoodle blondies were miles better than I thought they would be. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin pie in general, so I anticipated these bars being just okay. I was wrong and I'm proud to admit it.

Jen at Beantown Baker is a genius for coming up with this winning combination. I followed her recipe pretty closing, although I did add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the snickerdoodle batter and decreased the brown sugar by a half cup. Jen also suggests adding a white chocolate & cinnamon topping, but Dave and I agreed to leave them with just the cinnamon sugar. Either way, you have to try these bars. Don't be intimidated by the ingredients list. You're whipping up two batters essentially, but you can use the same bowl for both (I did at Jen's suggestion). They came together pretty quickly and wherever you celebrate this Thanksgiving, everyone will be thankful for you and these pumpkin pie snickerdoodle blondies.

Starting with your snickerdoodle layer, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a beater blade (or a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer) beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Switch to a paddle attachment and gradually add the flour mixture until well blended. The batter will be thick like cookie batter.

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan and lay a piece of parchment paper across the pan, leaving overhang on the edges. This will make it easier to get the bars out of the pan later.

Spread the snickerdoodle batter into the parchment lined pan and press into an even layer. I used my hands to press it into the corners since the parchment will slide a bit.

For the pumpkin pie layer, use the same bowl from the snickerdoodle batter and fit your mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add canned pumpkin, eggs and vanilla and mix until combined, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice and mix to combine.

Pour the pumpkin mixture over the snickerdoodle batter and smooth the layer over the top.

In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the pumpkin pie layer.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for about an hour. Bars will deflate slightly and the top layer will have a pie-like texture. Bars near the edge will be more firm.

After bars have cooled completely, gently lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment as a sling. I slid my hand underneath to the center of the bars to give support while transporting them to a flexible cutting mat.

Peel parchment off the edges and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container.